Gang assaults driver, scoots with Rs 35 lakh

CHENNAI: In a daring incident, a four-member gang allegedly assaulted a travels car driver and scooted with Rs 35 lakh collected from TASMAC outlets by representatives of a private security firm at Thuraipakkam on Monday.  Police suspect the incident to be an insider’s job.It was around 2.30 pm, when Johnson, a collection agent from SDB Security Services Private Limited on Harrington Road in Chetpet, arrived at TASMAC shop number 4488 in Thuraipakkam, a police officer told Express.  Accompanying him was a gun-toting Demal Dehu (28), a native of Assam, who had joined the security firm three months ago, he said.The duo’s assignment was to collect the previous day’s collection amount from 25 TASMAC shops in the southern suburbs.  The two men left in a Tata Indica car hired from Daniel Travels, with driver C Balaji (30) behind the wheel, the police officer said.After making the collections from 20 TASMAC shops, Johnson and Dehu arrived at the wine shop on 200 Feet Road. Leaving the driver behind in the car, they went inside the shop.Balaji later told the cops that while he was waiting for the duo’s return, four men threatened him at knifepoint and got into the vehicle. “He claimed that they looked like north Indians,” the police officer said.Balaji alleged that the quartet assaulted him and began driving towards Pallikaranai. The gang members also broke open the steel cash box and removed the collection amount of `35 lakh kept inside.  When the vehicle was at Pallikaranai, they pushed him out and escaped in two-wheelers with the cash.  Grilled by a special police team led by DCP (Adyar) K A Senthilvelan, Balaji claimed that he was shocked and dazed by the incident and did not note down the registration numbers of the two-wheelers. “We suspect it to be an insider’s job,” Senthilvelan told Express. “We are probing and still have a long way to go,” he claimed.